Page 73 of Luka

“Come on,” he says in a teasing tone like he has no clue what he’s doing to me just by bringing me here. If I insulted him, I think he’d believe me. “One ride,at least. It’ll be fun.”

He looks around as we walk and points high above my head. I turn and look in the distance.

“That one.”

I squint at the giant arching metal scraping the sky. It’s halfway across the park, peeking out from above the awning of a food vendor we walk past. “The roller coaster?”

“Well if we’re only going to doone, it’d better be a good one.”

I turn to him with my eyes narrowed. “Are you out of your mind?”

His smile widens even as he rolls his eyes. “It’s safe. How are you going to make a dent in your bucket list if you’re going to be a chicken shit about theme parks?”

“A chickenwhat?”

“Do it. It’ll be fun,” he assures me.

“Our idea of fun is wildly different… You realize that, right? Being terrified with you was never on my bucket list, but if it was, we had it covered the first time we met. Don’t you think?”

“Nope, doesn’t count.” He shakes his head. “That wasofme. Notwithme.”

My eyes narrow further, but when he winks, my lips tug. He pulls me along with him, his pace quickening, but when I spot a ride I recognize from books, I pull him to a stop and point.

“That one.”

He searches out what I’m talking about. I roll my lips to keep from smiling the moment he sees it. His jaw drops as he turns to me. “The carousel?”

“This is my experience, remember?” I shrug and continue to fight my smile. “You’ll just have to come back with Arseni someday to get your thrills.”

He stares at me a moment, gives his head a disapproving shake, then takes my hand and leads me to the ride. “I’m too old to come to this shit for leisure, Peach.”

“And yet, here you are.”

“I know. I should’ve taken you to an art museum instead.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He turns to me deadpanned when we get in line for the ride, and I cover my mouth as I laugh. “Do I look like a guy who appreciates fine art?”

“Gothic art, maybe. You look like a guy who appreciates suffering.”

“Of others,” Luka clarifies.

A woman holding a toddler turns to give us a curious look before facing forward. We’re the only adults in line, and it gives me a weird sort of satisfaction bothering Luka. I don’t know that I’ve ever been much of a playful person until him. My family has always been so serious. I get the impression Luka’s is as well.

After the carousel stops and lets passengers off, the gate opens to let us on. Luka wants to take the bench, but I insist on horses for no other reason than to embarrass him. I laugh at the gloomy expression he gives me from the mechanical horse, making it even more dramatic by the way he holds onto the pole, his long legs bent as his feet touch the ground.

I hover in the air when the ride takes off, one hand grasping the bar while I wave the other in a rhythm with the up and down movement of the horse.

Iwooand laugh while Luka stares at me trying not to smile the same way I had.

“You’re beautiful,” he mouths, making my smile ease. He looks so sincere. So full of something that I’m scared to consider.

Because I think it might be love. And I think I might feel it back.

I face forward and try to force my amusement, force the thoughts out of my head, the emotion out of my throat, and when the ride stops and we get off, I let Luka drag me to another ride. Not the roller coaster, but a swinging ship. Then some roulette looking thing that spins. And three more rides before finally, and strategically I’m sure, we wind up at the entrance to the double looped coaster.

I bite my lip, but I’m faking my nervousness at this point. My adrenaline is already rushing. A roller coaster can’t do nearly as much as what Luka has done with the way he’s been looking at me.

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